International

Four electric power generators in western Japan have agreed to cooperate on an effort meant to improve emergency response and decommissioning at nuclear reactors. Kansai Electric Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co., and Kyushu Electric Power Co. announced their effort to further augment the Cooperation Agreement Between Nuclear Operators in Nuclear […]

The House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee on Thursday passed its mark for the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to the full committee with several amendments calling for reports related to comparative U.S. and Russian military capabilities to be submitted to Congress. The mark would also require construction of the Mixed Oxide (MOX) […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) said it intends by the end of this year to complete three additional studies requested by Canada’s top environmental official regarding the company’s planned deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. The Ontario government-owned corporation expressed confidence that the findings would support its intention to build the storage site at […]

EnergySolutions said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with the Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) under which the two companies will collaborate on decommissioning of light-water nuclear power facilities in Japan. The company declined to disclose terms of the deal, including the length of contract and monetary amount. EnergySolutions will share its decommissioning and decontamination […]

French state-owned power company EDF SA this week purchased Studsvik’s entire waste treatment operation, which includes sites in Sweden and the U.K., for about $44 million, the companies announced Wednesday. Sweden-based Studsvik’s waste treatment business offers low-level radioactive waste processing services globally, with an emphasis on Europe, and in 2015 produced roughly $21 million in revenue, […]

EnergySolutions said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with the Japan Atomic Power Co. (JAPC) under which the two companies will collaborate on decommissioning of light-water nuclear power facilities in Japan. EnergySolutions will share its decommissioning and decontamination know-how and capabilities with JAPC for work on Tsuruga Unit 1, according to a press release. Toward this, JAPC […]

French state-owned power company EDF SA has purchased Studsvik’s entire waste treatment operation, which includes sites in Sweden and the U.K., for about $44 million, the companies announced Wednesday. Studsvik’s waste treatment business offers low-level radioactive waste processing services throughout Europe, and in 2015 produced roughly $21 million in revenue, according to a press release. The […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) said Friday it intends by the end of this year to complete three additional studies requested by Canada’s top environmental official regarding the company’s planned deep geologic repository for low- and intermediate-level waste. The Ontario government-owned corporation expressed confidence that the findings would support its intention to build the storage site at its […]

A U.S. citizen has been charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government in the U.S. and helping develop special nuclear material in China without authorization from the Department of Energy, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday and announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho, a nuclear engineer […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week he disapproves of the Obama administration’s proposal to nix the MOX program and move forward with a downblending alternative for disposal of surplus plutonium. Putin said the switch, which was part of President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget, violates a bilateral 2000 agreement that requires each country to […]

A utility membership group representing 32 European countries said last week that the European Commission’s Nuclear Illustrative Program fails to address market forces that cause “well-functioning” nuclear plants to shut down prematurely. The commission, which is the governing body of the European Union, released the report last week. It’s the first such report since the 2011 […]

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Wednesday charged that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not done enough to improve American nuclear power plants while implementing lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi facility disaster in Japan. During a hearing on the commission’s fiscal 2017 budget plan, Boxer listed a […]

The Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (GP) will provide assistance to the international community on the conversion of plutonium to mixed oxide (MOX) fuel despite a recent shift in White House policy away from MOX and toward alternative plutonium disposition methods. The action plan for the Global Partnership, […]

Senate Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Wednesday charged that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not done enough to improve American nuclear power plants while implementing lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi facility disaster in Japan. During a hearing on the commission’s fiscal 2017 budget plan, Boxer listed a number of NRC decisions […]

EDF Energy and Holtec International announced Tuesday that they have completed the U.K.’s first dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The dry storage facility, known in the U.S. as an independent spent fuel storage installation, will now prepare for the first delivery of spent fuel, which is expected in the fall. The £200 million […]

President Barack Obama said Friday that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s suggestion to allow Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear weapons demonstrates he “doesn’t know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula, or the world generally.” In a New York Times interview released late last month, and in televised […]

Sellafield Ltd., the firm leading decommissioning of England’s Sellafield nuclear site, became a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on Friday. As the U.K. nuclear regulator, NDA owns 17 sites across England, Wales, and Scotland. Sellafield Ltd. was previously owned by private consortium Nuclear Management Partners. The U.K. government announced the move […]

Russia is prepared to accept a revised U.S. plan for disposal of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, provided it is assured the process could not be reversed, a Russian expert said Wednesday. The United States and Russia in 2000 agreed to each dispose of 34 metric tons of excess plutonium via conversion into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for nuclear […]

Rather than making another request for an environmental impact statement (EIS) before the U.S. transports liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site, U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is instead asking to remove from consideration the route that would send the uranium through his district. The Energy Department anticipates overseeing up […]

Senior U.S. State Department officials said this week that despite Russia’s withdrawal from the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit and political challenges that have prevented the current administration from developing a strategic partnership with the country, a return to negotiations is inevitable and joint nonproliferation work continues. Frank Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, […]

The White House on Thursday forcefully dismissed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s suggestion that it might be better to have Japan and South Korea develop nuclear weapons than to continue covering them under the U.S. military umbrella. The “entire premise of American foreign policy, as it relates to nuclear weapons for the last 70 years, […]

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and the Euratom Supply Agency on Friday jointly announced to swap nuclear material between the United States and Euratom member states. The deal, announced at the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, is based on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2014 between the two agencies for highly enriched […]

Russia is prepared to accept a revised U.S. plan for disposal of surplus weapon-usable plutonium, provided it is assured the process could not be reversed, a Russian expert said Wednesday. The United States and Russia in 2000 agreed to each dispose of 34 metric tons of excess plutonium via conversion into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for nuclear […]

A Weapons Complex Morning Briefing article Tuesday should have said that highly enriched uranium shipped from Canada will be processed and downblended at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to create low-enriched uranium. That material will then be sent to the Tennessee Valley Authority for conversion into reactor fuel.

A senior State Department official said Tuesday that despite the challenges that have prevented the current administration from developing a strategic partnership with Russia, a return to negotiations for strategic stability is inevitable. Frank Rose, assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification, and compliance, said at the Wilson Center that the U.S. relationship with Russia has […]

The United States will continue to work with Russia on nonproliferation, arms control, and countering nuclear terrorism outside of the Nuclear Security Summit process, two senior State Department officials said Monday. Bonnie Jenkins, coordinator for the State Department’s threat reduction programs, said during a conference call with reporters that despite the reduction in U.S.-Russian nonproliferation activities and […]

Rather than making another request for an environmental impact statement (EIS) before the U.S. transports liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site, U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is asking to remove from consideration the route that would send the uranium through his district. The Energy Department anticipates overseeing up to […]

The Australia Institute is taking aim again at a nuclear waste plan that backers say would produce billions of dollars in revenue for South Australia, this time with a report claiming the plan makes dangerous cost-benefit assumptions. South Australia Sen. Sean Edwards is proposing a plan in which the state would take in about 13 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has withdrawn a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on behalf of the Belgian Nuclear Research Center (SCK-CEN) for the export of 134.2 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, contained in 144 kilograms of uranium, according to correspondence shared with NS&D Monitor between the NRC and the […]

The United States and the regulatory China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) have commissioned a new nuclear security Center of Excellence (COE) in China, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced last week. Officials from the DOE, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), and Department of Defense worked with the CAEA to open the center, which is […]